Day 60

 

WWJD

 

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

 

Matthew 16:24

 

The kids in the class were all wearing their WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets. They had discussed what the WWJD stood for and had moved on to a craft project. There was only one tube of glue and Bert wanted it. The only problem was another little boy was using the glue. Bert asked for the glue but the other boy refused to give the glue up. So, Bert got a ruler and whacked the other boy upside the head with it and said, "Give me the glue!"

The teacher startled by the sudden assault said, "Bert, remember your WWJD bracelet. What would Jesus do here?"

Bert replied, "If Jesus was here he would make him give me the glue!"

Even when we are 5 years old we have a hard time discerning the difference between our will and God's will. One thing is for certain though, what Jesus would have done would not have included whacking a kid with a ruler.

The popularity of the WWJD bracelets have come and gone. You just don't see them that much anymore. We have moved on to new slogans and printed new t-shirts. Hopefully we have not discarded, along with our bracelets, asking ourselves what Jesus would do.

I believe if we consistently ask ourselves what would Jesus do  we would all be much better off. Anybody who invested in a get rich quick scheme could have saved themselves a lot of money by asking, "Is this something Jesus would do?" Anybody who has wounded a friend deeply by saying something they should not have said could have saved a friendship by first asking themselves, "Is this something Jesus would say?" The list is endless: Would Jesus raise his kids this way? Would Jesus spend his money on this? Would Jesus sit and listen to this?"

Jesus tells us if we are going to do the things he does we must take up our cross and follow him. Taking up our cross is not a burden we bear (like bad eyesight or a mean mother in law) the cross is a instrument of death. We must die to what we want to do and follow Jesus doing what he wants to do.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Matthew 16: 21-26

• What was Jesus explaining to his disciples that he must do?
• Was this what the disciples wanted to happen?
• How do we find real life?